Oil discovery in the pre-salt offshore Gabon

Panoro Energy ASA ("PEN", OSE ticker code), the independent oil and gas company with assets in West Africa and Brazil, announces that the partnership has found oil in the wildcat well, Ruche Marine-1 (DRM-1) drilled in the Dussafu Marin PSC, offshore Gabon. Panoro Energy holds 33.33% in the PSC. The well was spudded on April 28, 2011 and drilled to test the potential of the pre-salt Gamba and Dentale formations.

Drilled with the Transocean Sedneth 701 semi-submersible drilling unit in 116 meters of water, the DRM-1 well has reached a vertical depth of 3,034 meters within the Upper Dentale formation. Log evaluation, pressure data and samples indicate that the partnership has discovered approximately 17 meters of pay in a 27 meter oil column within its primary objective, the Gamba formation.

Additional technical evaluation will be required to appraise the Gamba discovery. Forward plans include deepening the well to test Middle and Lower Dentale exploration potential and sidetracking to appraise the extent of the Gamba oil discovery.

Panoro Energy will provide an update on the drilling operations in due course.

Dussafu Marin is operated by Harvest Dussafu, B.V., an affiliate of Harvest Natural Resources, Inc. Panoro Energy has a 33.33% stake held through a subsidiary company.

For further information, please contact:
Jonas Gamre, Finance & Investor Relations Manager
Tel: +47 23 01 10 02
Cell: +47 971 18 292
Email: jonas.gamre@panoroenergy.com